Connections among craft communities in the late medieval Mediterranean: New considerations on patterns of use of the Naples Yellow pigment
Résumé
Lead antimonate (Pb2Sb2O7), or Naples Yellow, is one of the most common yellow pigments found in Renaissance majolica wares and European paintings. The knowledge for its recipe is considered as being transferred to Venice via the migration of eastern Mediterranean glass artists in the early 1500s (Dik et al. 2005). Naples Yellow is also the most ancient synthetic pigment used for colouring and opacifying glass, as evidenced by findings from Egypt (around 1450 BC, Wainwright et al. 1986) and Mesopotamia (1300-1000 BC, Hedges 1976). It was used by Roman glassmakers until a shortage of imported lead antimonate yellow glass from the East probably forced a switch to the use of tin-based yellow pigments in the 4th century (Tite et al. 2008). Later on, iron oxides were used as the main yellow colorant in Byzantine lead-rich glazed pottery (Palamara et al. 2016) even though a very small percentage of lead antimonate occurs in some Late Byzantine sgraffito wares from Macedonia (Tanevska et al. 2009) and western Anatolia (Kimirzi et al. 2012). With this background in mind, we present results obtained from the integrative analysis of 35 samples of 14th-century sgraffito wares found at the cities of Corinth and Thebes, mainland Greece. Aside from the local production of yellow-glazed sgraffito wares in both cities, a significant number of yellow-glazed wares was imported from northern Italy (Liguria, Veneto, Po Valley) and from the Marche. Yellow-glazed pottery in late Byzantine styles was imported from Thessaloniki, as well as from the Venetian colony of Negroponte/Chalkida. The use of iron oxides was systematic among these productions, in concentrations varying from workshop to workshop. In addition, antimonate-based yellow pigments are detected in several Greek productions of Byzantine tradition (Chalkida, Corinth, Thessaloniki) and in Venetian ceramics, whereas lead-tin yellow pigments were used in Greek workshops under Frankish (Thebes) and Catalan (Thebes, Corinth) rules. Our results suggest that Greek workshops might have had a particular importance in production and diffusion processes of Naples Yellow pigments in the Byzantine world, either through primary ore extraction, trade of processed materials (glass), or transmission of pigment recipes. Moreover, they provide new insights into the way Naples Yellow recipes may have reached Venice during, or even before, the early Renaissance period. We also explore the possibility of a Latin origin for the use of tin-based yellow pigments, thereby exploring political changes and state organization as potential catalysts for the diffusion of craft traditions.